On the record.

No. 26-008

April 14, 2026

Statement

[ Knoxville ]

On the Eastern Section appellate backlog

“Eleven months from oral argument to opinion is not deliberation. It is a workflow problem. The fix is not more judges — the fix is judges who write to a clock and publish their times.”

The Eastern Section's median time from oral argument to filed opinion is 11.4 months. That is the slowest of the three appellate sections in the state and 41% slower than the Western Section. The drivers are not exotic. They are: opinion drafting on a non-binding internal schedule, no public reporting of judge-specific timelines, and a workflow culture that treats a six-month backlog as routine. None of that is a feature. It can be fixed by an appellate judge who picks up a clipboard. I will commit, in writing, to a 6-month civil and 4-month criminal cap on every opinion I author, and publish my own running median monthly so the bar and the public can hold me to it. The Western Section runs a 7.4-month median with the same caseload and the same statutes. There is no mystery here. There is just work that someone has to do.

No. 26-007

April 02, 2026

Op-Ed · Knoxville News Sentinel

[ Knoxville ]

The case for plain-English judicial opinions

“If a litigant cannot read what the court decided, the court has not finished its work. A one-paragraph summary is not a dumbing-down — it is a finishing-up.”

I write a thousand-word lay summary on every opinion I author from the Knox County Circuit bench. It runs at the top of the published order, before the syllabus, in language a litigant can read on the courthouse steps. I have done this for nine years. It has not generated a single appellate confusion, a single ethics complaint, or a single moment in which the legal text was watered down to fit. What it has done is produce litigants who walk out of the courthouse understanding what just happened to them. I am running for the Eastern Section in part to apply this discipline to every published opinion the court issues. The legal text remains. The casebook still gets the precedent. But before all of that, the litigant gets the answer.

No. 26-006

March 18, 2026

Endorsement

[ Nashville ]

Tennessee Bar Association civility committee endorsement

“The TBA Civility & Professionalism Committee has voted unanimously to endorse Hon. Daniel R. Shoemaker for the open Eastern Section seat.”

After review of his published opinions, his bar evaluation history, and statements from attorneys who have appeared before him from both sides of the v., the Committee finds Judge Shoemaker exemplifies the standards the Tennessee Supreme Court has articulated for judicial temperament, fairness, and the rule of law. The Committee is making this endorsement available to local bar associations across the Eastern Section.

No. 26-005

March 12, 2026

Filing Statement

[ Nashville · Tn. Bureau of Ethics & Campaign Finance ]

Filing statement upon entering the Eastern Section race

“I am not running for this seat to make a political statement. I am running because the Eastern Section needs a working appellate judge.”

I have spent the last nine years on the Knox County Circuit Court bench writing 1,847 opinions. Of the 184 that have been appealed, none has been reversed for legal error. I do not say that to brag — I say that because it is the only thing a judge should be measured on. I will not run a campaign about specific cases. I will not discuss hypothetical fact patterns. I will not accept endorsements from elected party officials or party committees. The campaign will operate by the canons of judicial conduct on the trail and on the bench, equally.

No. 26-004

February 27, 2026

Press · Chattanooga Times Free Press

[ Chattanooga ]

"A judge other judges learn from" — Chattanooga Times editorial

“The editorial board of the Chattanooga Times Free Press has issued a pre-primary endorsement of Judge Shoemaker for the Eastern Section seat.”

Coverage of the editorial board interview, including the candidate's response to questions about appellate workflow, judicial temperament, and the canons of judicial conduct as they apply to a sitting trial-court judge in a contested race. The full editorial is available on the Times Free Press website.